Ban cell phones in California schools? Georgia shooting raises questions

• September 5, 2024

“School shooting rn,” an Apalachee High School student texted his mother Wednesday morning.

“I’m not joking,” he said, later adding, “someone’s dead.”

The student’s mom posted a screenshot of the exchange on social media, captioning it her “worst (expletive) nightmare” but noting her child was safe. Her son had texted her as the shooting unfolded Wednesday, Sept. 4 — “rn” meaning “right now.”

Two students and two teachers were killed, and others injured, during the attack at the school in Winder, Georgia, by a 14-year-old suspect, according to authorities.

A horrific start to the new school year. And one that raises questions about efforts to ban cell phones in schools.

“I understand the motivation to ban cell phones in classrooms, and I agree with it 100%. When kids are learning, they should not have their phones to distract them,” said Joel Delman, a parent of a high schooler in the Los Angeles Unified School District, which will enact a ban next year.

“But the idea that my son won’t have a way to reach me in an emergency is very scary,” Delman added. “I’m not a helicopter parent, but I want to be able to reach my child.”

Across California, there have been concerted efforts to greatly restrict or outright ban the use of cell phones, particularly smartphones, in schools. The idea, according to proponents, is to limit distractions to learning and curtail harm to mental health.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a letter to school leaders last month, encouraged districts to enact restrictions on smartphones on campuses.

“The evidence is clear: reducing phone use in class leads to improved concentration, better academic outcomes and enhanced social interactions,” Newsom said in the letter dated Aug. 13.

“Every classroom should be a place of focus, learning and growth,” he added. “Working together, educators, administrators and parents can create an environment where students are fully engaged in their education, free from the distractions on the phones and pressures of social media.”

A few weeks after that letter, state legislators passed a bill requiring local education agencies to adopt policies that limit or prohibit the use of smartphones while at school. The policy, according to the bill, would need to be updated every five years.

While Newsom has backed restrictions on cell phones in schools, he does not believe students should be prohibited from possessing or using them in the event of an emergency or “in response to a perceived threat of danger,” Elana Ross, a spokesperson for the governor, said Thursday.

The governor does intend to sign that bill, AB 3216, Ross said.

“The current legislation retains that key provision at the urging of the administration to ensure that common sense restrictions do not infringe on the very real need for students and families, and law enforcement, to have every means available to communicate in these horrifying circumstances,” Ross said.

For Los Angeles Unified, a blanket district-wide cell phone ban isn’t coming until 2025, but individual schools have already enacted policies. LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin, who championed the district’s ban, said those schools have reported a decrease in fighting and an increase in engagement.

Melvoin, in a recent opinion article for the Los Angeles Times, acknowledged concerns about cell phone bans in emergencies. But he cited reports that suggest it might be safer for kids to pay attention to adults rather than be focused on their phone during an emergency or that too many 911 calls could overwhelm a switchboard.

“School officials, not parents, need to be executing emergency plans and communicating with teachers, parents and law enforcement,” Melvoin said.

Newport-Mesa Unified in Orange County updated its cell phone policy in October 2023, with differing rules for elementary and high school students.

High school students must keep cell phones off during instructional time but can use their devices in the event of an emergency or a perceived threat of danger, when authorized by a teacher or licensed physician or if its use is required by the student’s individualized education program.

For younger students, cell phones are not permitted and must be off and placed out of sight during the school day. Students can use phones in the school office if needed.

“We continually evaluate the impact of the policy in our schools and make adjustments to help students focus on their academics and engage with each other in meaningful ways,” said Annette Franco, a spokesperson for the district.

In Georgia, a new alert system at Apalachee High is being credited with likely saving lives when the shooting unfolded Wednesday. School staff were equipped with a special ID that has a button that, when pushed, alerts the school, other teachers and law enforcement, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Officers reportedly responded to the school within minutes after receiving those alerts.

The system also triggered flashing lights and a lockdown message that played throughout the campus, according to the newspaper. Students told the newspaper that classroom boards popped up a “lockdown” message even before they began to hear gunshots.

In 2022, it was at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman wreaked havoc, killing 19 students and two teachers.

Amid the horror, a 10-year-old student made a series of 911 calls, begging for help. “Please, I don’t want to die. My teacher is dead. Oh, my God,” the student said.

For Delman, it’s not just school shootings that concern him when it comes to cell phone bans. Aside from just the logistics parents must navigate with a high schooler’s everchanging schedule, he lives in Southern California; earthquakes are a fear, as well.

“The fact that LAUSD is going to remove my child’s phone frightens me,” he said.

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​ Orange County Register 

Remains of Redlands couple who went missing from nudist resort positively identified

• September 5, 2024

The remains of a Redlands couple believed killed by their nudist camp neighbor have been positively identified, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The bodies of Stephanie Menard, 73, and Daniel Menard, 79, were officially identified Thursday, Sept. 5, according to Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Mara Rodriguez.

According to the Redlands Police Department, the Menards’ bodies were discovered Aug. 29 beneath the home of neighbor Michael Royce Sparks, 62. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, including a special circumstance allegation of committing multiple homicides. Sparks is being held without bail at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Police have not disclosed a motive for the alleged killings.

Sparks has yet to enter a plea in the case. His arraignment has been twice delayed, first on Wednesday and again Thursday.

The Menards and Sparks lived in the Olive Dell Ranch nudist resort, located in Reche Canyon on the border of Redlands and Colton.

The Menards’ car was found abandoned on a road inside the resort on Aug. 24, the keys still in the ignition. Stephanie Menard’s purse and her husband’s cellphone were found inside their mobile home nearby.

A friend reported the couple missing the next day, police said. Residents of the resort grew concerned about the couple’ disappearance, telling police Daniel Menard suffered from dementia. The couple’s white shih tzu, Cuddles, is missing and has not been found.

More on the Menard case

Search continues for elderly Redlands couple who went missing from nudist ranch
Redlands police recover human remains from under nudist resort home
Redlands nudist resort reeling from resident’s arrest on suspicion of killing 2 neighbors
Redlands man charged with murder in suspected dismemberment of elderly couple

​ Orange County Register 

States force drugmakers to keep selling cheaper meds under federal program

• September 5, 2024

Shalina Chatlani | Stateline.org (TNS)

In their ongoing quest to lower prescription drug prices, some states are forcing drugmakers to continue to sell cheaper medications to thousands of pharmacies through a federal drug-discount program.

Under the 32-year-old 340B program, pharmaceutical companies that participate in Medicaid must sell outpatient drugs at discounted prices to clinics, community health centers and hospitals that primarily serve low-income patients. The idea is that providers will use the money they save — between 20% and 50% off the normal price — to expand their services.

But many such facilities don’t have in-house pharmacies, so in 2010 the federal government expanded the 340B program to allow many more outside pharmacies — so-called contract pharmacies — to dispense the drugs to eligible patients on behalf of health centers and hospitals. Among the top four pharmacy chains (Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens), 71% of locations participate in the 340B program, according to a recent study by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Drugmakers contend that the 340B program has grown far beyond its original intent, and that some hospitals are pocketing the savings instead of investing the money in more services. Some research supports that contention.

In 2020, seven major pharmaceutical manufacturers announced that they would restrict or halt 340B drug sales to contract pharmacies, since those sales aren’t required under federal law. As of last September, 25 drugmakers had imposed such restrictions, according to 340B Health, an advocacy group that represents more than 1,500 public and private nonprofit hospitals and health systems.

“We as an industry continue to provide those discounts, but we’re concerned that there’s no evidence patients are seeing any improved access or that they’re seeing lower costs,” said Nicole Longo, deputy vice president for public affairs at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group representing drugmakers.

States are pushing back. This year, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri and West Virginia have enacted laws requiring drugmakers that participate in Medicaid to sell discounted drugs to contract pharmacies. In 2021, Arkansas became the first state with such a law, and Louisiana followed in 2023. Other states, including New York, have considered similar bills this year.

“It’s very hard to maintain services and keep a hospital open. So, when 340B came into play, it was very helpful,” West Virginia Republican state Sen. Tom Takubo, the sponsor of the legislation in his state, told Stateline.

“They just unilaterally stopped delivering medications to those peripheral pharmacies,” Takubo said. “And so, we passed a bill that said you can’t do that. You gotta deliver out there. And if you don’t do it, we’re gonna fine you.”

340B expansion

One thing is certain: The 2010 expansion of the 340B program to many more contract pharmacies has dramatically expanded access to the discounted drugs. The number of retail pharmacies participating in the program grew from 789 in 2009 to 25,775 in 2022, according to a study published last year in JAMA Health Forum.

Patient spending on 340B discounted drugs also has increased significantly, from $6.6 billion in 2010 to $43.9 billion in 2021, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Karen Mulligan, a research assistant professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, said there are valid arguments on both sides of the debate. The point of the 340B program is not to subsidize drugs for low-income patients, she said. Rather, it is to funnel financial support to struggling community health centers and rural hospitals.

The federal government began allowing those entities to use contract pharmacies because many of them did not have pharmacies in-house, Mulligan said. But she pointed out that the expansion of the 340B program also has brought in some hospitals that “make plenty of money without 340B.” And because the 340B reporting requirements for hospitals are lax, she said, it’s not clear that they are using the money they save to improve patient care.

The challenge, Mulligan said, is that efforts to rein in the program likely would harm all providers — those that need the savings to serve low-income patients and those that don’t.

“The program’s intention is not what the program looks like today, and that’s why you have so many different people on different sides,” Mulligan told Stateline.

A broad range of patients

Some critics of the 340B program claim the discounts end up flowing to hospitals located in wealthier neighborhoods.

But Joey Mattingly, an associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Utah who has been in pharmacy for more than two decades, said the health care providers that use contract pharmacies see a broad range of patients. And the revenue they get helps those hospitals stay open.

“When you lose the hospital and it’s no longer even available in your community, now you’ve got to drive farther to get to a hospital,” Mattingly told Stateline. “That’s not to say that if 340B went away tomorrow, you would lose a bunch of hospitals. But I think you’d see a lot of changes that would be dramatic.”

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Mattingly said a lot of hospitals and clinics use the savings to create changes that are both economical and helpful to patients. For example, they may start offering free or subsidized drugs in-house that patients could get right away, increasing the likelihood that they will actually take the medicine and avoid a costly hospital readmission.

Aimee Kuhlman, vice president of advocacy at the American Hospital Association, said the 340B program generates tens of billions of dollars in savings that hospitals use to benefit patients.

“The reality is, Big Pharma doesn’t want to give discounts to hospitals or the patients these hospitals serve, they want to keep it for themselves,” Kuhlman told Stateline. “The fact is, 340B is a critical resource to eligible hospitals and the patients and communities they serve.”

Participation in Medicaid is optional, and pharmaceutical companies that don’t want to provide the 340B discounts can decline to be part of it, said Greg Havard, CEO of the 49-bed George Regional Health System in Lucedale, Mississippi, a city of a few thousand people close to the Gulf Coast.

“Pharmacy manufacturers have agreed to sell certain drugs to us at a lower price, and the 340B program is there to help us recoup costs on services or facilities that we operate to treat these folks and try to keep the doors open,” Havard told Stateline. “The reason we as a group wanted to pursue legislation is because pharmaceutical manufacturers, during the height of the worst pandemic in 100 years … stopped honoring our contract pharmacies that have been a practice in place for 15 years.”

Vacheria Keys, associate vice president of policy and regulatory affairs at the National Association of Community Health Centers, also argued that the facilities she represents invest 340B savings into patient care. Keys said the program is essential because the federal funding that community health centers receive “doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.”

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are challenging the new state laws in court. Last month, for example, a federal judge denied a bid by drugmaker Novartis to halt Mississippi’s law. The company told Stateline it plans to appeal the decision.

Robert Dozier, executive director of the Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association, hailed the new state law and the court’s ruling.

“We’re getting more brand-name drug manufacturers back on board,” Dozier told Stateline. “That gives us access to more medication to where we can help more people in the community.”

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

The technology used to make the COVID vaccine may be key to pancreatic cancer treatment

• September 5, 2024

Kendall Staton | (TNS) Lexington Herald-Leader

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Researchers at the University of Kentucky are testing the effectiveness of a vaccine that may be able to treat pancreatic cancer.

As one of 15 research institutions across the nation taking part in the new clinical trial, UK HealthCare will test a vaccine, made with the same sequencing technology as the COVID vaccine, to try to lessen the recurrence of pancreatic cancer.

“Patients with pancreatic cancer need additional treatment options. Pancreatic cancer is one of the cancers that we have made little, if any, progress over the last couple of decades, and so this is a potential major breakthrough,” said Dr. Joseph Kim, chief of surgical oncology at UK’s Markey Cancer Center.

To be eligible for the trial, patients have to have a cancerous tumor that is resectable, meaning it can be removed through surgery. That limits the number of potential participants, Kim said, because most forms of pancreatic cancer can’t be removed.

UK will enroll a few patients per month during the trial, with the plan for a total of 200 participants across all research institutions.

Once removed, the tumor is sent to a company in Europe, Genentech, which will perform DNA sequencing on the tumor to create an individualized vaccine for each patient. If effective, the vaccine will lessen the recurrence of pancreatic cancer.

“Even after removal, uniformly, a large percentage of patients will have a recurrence of disease,” Kim said. “There are additional sites of disease that are just not visible with the naked eye, not visible with all the fancy radiographic imaging studies that we have. And so the vaccine would target what we would call the occult, or hidden, cancer cells.”

This particular model was tested in a previous clinical trial to determine if it was safe to administer, called a phase one trial. With successful results, it now moves onto a phase two trial, where its effectiveness will be studied.

Unlike other forms of cancer, patients with pancreatic cancer do not have a lot of effective treatment options, making clinical trials almost standard treatment. Kentucky has the second-highest rate of pancreatic cancer among U.S. states, according to information from the CDC.

“Our pancreatic cancer group here just published a paper showing that the outcomes for patients from Appalachian areas are worse than they are from other areas of Kentucky,” Kim said.

“Patients from our underdeveloped, social, economically challenged areas of the state are not getting optimal care. We showed in our recent study, when patients did receive standard therapies – the best of care – that in the Appalachian patients with pancreatic cancer, such disparities are equalized, or those disparities are eliminated.”

Kim said other trials have so far found vaccines used to treat skin cancer to be safe and effective. He said he thinks vaccines created through DNA sequencing will become mainstream cancer treatment.

——–

©2024 Lexington Herald-Leader. Visit at kentucky.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Check out our OC photographers’ favorite images from August 2024

• September 5, 2024

We asked our photographers to pick their favorite moments from July 2024, and here are some of the images they selected.

Check out the photos and follow The Orange County Register on Facebook and Instagram. Here are our staff photographers’ individual pages: Paul Bersebach, Jeff Gritchen, Jeff Gritchen Aerial, Images, Leonard Ortiz, Mark Rightmire, and Mindy Schauer.

Stay safe and stay healthy!

 

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Related linksCheck out our favorite images from July 2024Check out our favorite images from June 2024Check out our favorite images from May 2024Check out our favorite images from March 2024Check out our favorite images from February 2024Check out our favorite images from January 2024Check out our OC photographers’ favorite images from 2023

​ Orange County Register 

Ducks sign goaltender Oscar Dansk to one-year, two-way contract

• September 5, 2024

The Ducks bolstered their goalie depth by signing Oscar Dansk to a one-year, two-way contract.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but it’s maximum value is likely near the NHL minimum salary.

Dansk, 30, has just six games of NHL experience, all coming with the Vegas Golden Knights. He won four of his decisions with a .906 save percentage, two points above his .904 mark in the American Hockey League, where he has made 171 appearances.

He was originally selected 31st overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012.

After he was not tendered a second contract offer by Columbus, he signed with Vegas. He helped the Golden Knights’ minor-league affiliate reach the Calder Cup finals in 2019.

The Swede later spent a year in Russia with Spartak Moscow before returning to North America for two seasons with the Calgary Flames’ top affiliate, where he spent the past two seasons.

Last year, he backed up Dustin Wolf and also won his club’s IOA/American Specialty Man of the Year Award for the third time, which honored Dansk’s community service. The Stockholm native has worked with Ronald McDonald House and other charities.

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Internationally, Dansk won a silver medal for Sweden at both the U18 and U20 levels.

Dansk will likely compete with Calle Clang for starts in the AHL, with Vyacheslav Buteyets also entering the Ducks’ stateside netminding mix. Tomas Suchanek, who emerged last season after signing as an undrafted free agent, sustained a lower-body injury and may miss significant time as a result.

​ Orange County Register 

The best ways to give money to a teenager

• September 5, 2024

By Kimberly Palmer | NerdWallet

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.

Giving money to teenage children might sound simple, but it can quickly become complicated. Parents often want to set limits on how much their teens can spend, teach them about money management and protect them from fraud, all at the same time.

“It’s about knowing your kids and tailoring the approach a little bit to the child,” says Amy Spalding, a certified financial planner at District Capital Management, a Washington, D.C.-based firm. Some kids need more active help to stay organized and learn how to stay within a budget, while others need to be encouraged to practice spending in the real world.

Here are some strategies to consider when providing money to your teenager:

Start with cash

When children are using money on their own for the first time, sticking with cash can be the easiest way for them to learn how to manage it, says Dan Tobias, a CFP and founder of Passport Wealth Management in Cornelius, North Carolina. “First, get them to understand and appreciate money with paper. Then, when you need to, you can switch to electronic methods,” he says.

That’s the approach he uses for his own three children. He gives them a cash allowance and lets them decide how to spend it, which includes letting them make mistakes.

“Don’t be afraid to let them fail,” Tobias says. Kids might lose a $20 bill, splurge on something that breaks the next day or, in his case, buy a fish and a tank that they soon don’t want anymore. Those mistakes are critical teaching moments, he says, so it’s important parents don’t micromanage their kids’ spending.

Leverage familiar apps

Once children start earning and spending their own money without you nearby, digital payments become more appealing. You can use methods you and your kids may already know, like Apple Wallet, Venmo or other apps already connected to your phone. They are often connected to a parent’s credit card or checking account, unless a child already has their own.

Sarah Behr, a financial planner and owner of Simplify Financial in San Francisco, says apps can be helpful because a parent can closely monitor a child’s spending and “keep the guardrails up” while still giving them the freedom to make their own spending decisions.

If a teen overspends without permission, that can lead to a helpful conversation about budgeting. At the same time, parents can find ways to make sure their own accounts are protected, by using the apps to set spending limits or creating separate accounts with low balances and low credit limits.

Spalding turned to digital payment apps when her teenagers started spending money on their own. She set up a separate bank account with a low balance to limit the potential damage if the account was compromised or a teen overspent.

(Kimberly Palmer shares how she gives money to her teenage daughter.)

Try paid products for more support

Debit cards and apps designed for kids like Greenlight, GoHenry and BusyKid offer additional support for families, such as allowing them to actively manage a budget and chores, but they often come with a fee.

Greenlight, which costs between $5.99 and $14.98 a month, offers parental controls, the ability to assign chores and allowance automation, among other features. “Kids can understand the bigger picture of money management” and also set savings goals for themselves, says Jennifer Seitz, director of education at Greenlight.

Gregg Murset, a CFP and CEO of BusyKid, a debit card and chore app for kids, says the app helps parents teach kids important lessons about tracking money, investing and giving to charity. “That’s what we do as adults — save, invest and share — so we are modeling reality,” he says, adding that kids ages five through 17 can use the app, which costs $4 a month.

Encourage savings

Regardless of the method you choose, saving money should be part of the conversation with your kids, Spalding suggests. When her children were young teenagers, she took them to a local bank to set up a savings account so they could deposit money they had accumulated from babysitting jobs and gifts. She says you could also use an online high-yield savings account to see the money compound more quickly.

Investing in a Roth IRA can be a smart next step for children earning their own money. Behr offered her daughter a savings match up to the amount she contributed to encourage her to save more for the future. “I’m hoping the discipline of this exercise in delayed gratification sinks in,” she says. Teens can save up to the amount of their earned income with a limit of $7,000 for 2024.

With that kind of practice, saving for the future might even become a lifelong habit.

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article The Best Ways to Give Money to a Teenager originally appeared on NerdWallet.

​ Orange County Register 

Rams place starting corner Darious Williams on injured reserve

• September 5, 2024

LOS ANGELES — The Rams placed starting cornerback Darious Williams on injured reserve Thursday, ruling him out for at least the first four games of the season.

Williams, who returned to the Rams this offseason as a free agent after two years with the Jaguars, pulled his hamstring during the first week of training camp. He had returned to practice of late and was a limited participant Wednesday.

Head coach Sean McVay said before practice Wednesday that Williams had not suffered any kind of setback in regards to the injury.

“He got his hamstring good earlier in camp, but he’s making progress,” McVay said.

Williams’ absence puts the Rams in a precarious situation at cornerback entering Sunday’s season opener against the Detroit Lions.

Third corner Decobie Durant is dealing with his own hamstring injury and has been limited for three consecutive practices. If he’s unable to play Sunday, the Rams could find themselves relying on undrafted rookies Josh Wallace and Charles Woods to start opposite of Tre’Davious White.

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“That’s just the reality of the NFL and you’re prepared for any situation,” Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. “[They are] very mature rookies, ask great questions in meeting rooms. Guys who can take it from the meeting room to the field. … We think both of them can go out there and execute.”

Shula, who deferred questions about Williams’ injury to McVay, added that the Rams haven’t discussed the possibility of adding a free-agent cornerback as of Thursday afternoon.

​ Orange County Register